Pilot, wing walker die in crash at Ohio air show

Jun. 22, 2013

Written by

Alan Gomez

USA TODAY

DAYTON, OHIO — Ohio officials say two people were killed when a plane carrying a wing walker crashed and burst into flames at a Dayton-area air show.

Dayton International Airport spokeswoman Linda Hughes and Ohio State Highway Patrol Lt. Anne Ralston told the Associated Press that two people died in the crash Saturday afternoon. Their identities were being withheld until family members were notified.

“It’s part of what they do for a living,” said Michael Emoff, chairman of the volunteer board that organized the 39th annual Vectron Dayton Air Show. “They know the risks. They do this because they love it. But it’s devastating.”

Emoff said no spectators were injured in the crash.

A video posted on WHIO-TV shows a wing walker hanging by the legs from the bottom of a wing. The plane turns upside down, leaving the acrobat sitting on the bottom of the wing as it flies inverted and close to the ground. The plans starts tilting before slamming into the ground as spectators scream.

The schedule for the air show listed only one wing walker scheduled to perform: Jane Wicker. Her website chronicles a 25-year love of flying that led her to move into the world of wing walking. After being certified as a pilot, she started looking for more of a thrill and started performing outside the cockpit.

“I actually start off in the cockpit, and I walk along the wing of an airplane â€” no safety line, no tether, no harness, no parachute,” she told WDTN on Friday before the show got underway. “I get concerned when certain things are thrown at me that I’m not ready for (like bad weather). Those things concern me, but I’m never nervous or scared because I know if I do everything as I usually do, everything’s going to be just fine.”

Her website also says that she performs the difficult move of sitting on the bottom of the wing as the plane flies inverted.

Spectator Shawn Warwick told the Dayton Daily News that he was watching through binoculars when the plane started flying inverted and “really close to the ground.”

“She was sitting on the bottom of the plane,” Warwick said. “I saw it just go right into the ground and explode.”